The 1963 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership

RESPONSE of Verghese Kurien

I am happy and proud to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award on this birth anniversary of a great national hero and a respected leader of Asia, the late President Magsaysay: happy because the prize links me, however, remotely, with the name of a man known throughout the world for his greatness of spirit, integrity and devotion to liberty; and proud because the Award has brought honor not only to me but also to my countrymen.

This is the fifth such prize to be awarded to my fellow nationals in these six years of the Award; and that, if I may say so with some justifiable pride, is an indication of how much we in India cherish the ideals for which President Magsaysay stood all his life. When my fellow laureate Mr. Tribhuvandas Patel and I chose the cooperative field of activity several years ago, of organizing people of like views into a cohesive unit in the rural sector—an economically viable organization of farmers who would launch into productive enterprise through joint endeavor—we hardly thought that some day our work would bring us international recognition. Although Asian leaders throughout the ages have taught us the meaning and content of unity in action, and the power and strength of concerted effort, we were not entirely prepared for the amazing results that became evident among ourselves in a few years, or for the heartwarming response to this experiment in community life from organizations national and international. Many and eager were the helping hands extended in our direction from all quarters; they gave us material aid, they gave us moral courage, they sustained and nourished our faith in the fullest use of the cooperative system.

Our aim has always been clear: the service of the common man through the common man. And that, I am proud to recall today, was also one of the noble aims that inspired President Magsaysay. Throughout his brilliant life and career, he was committed to the little man, or, as you say here, to the common tao. He rose to the highest position in your country, and to an enviable place among world statesmen, on the stirring pledge of service—a fair deal for the poor, the sustenance of high moral values and justice for all; he was indeed a giant among men. He taught all of us in Asia how to use our newly gained freedom to develop our personalities and enrich our lives to the fullest extent within the framework of a free and democratic way of life. President Magsaysay was a great democrat and a great Asian. Nine years ago he foresaw that the kind of resurgent nationalism which was sweeping the continent of Asia was an excellent rallying point for all free nations. It is this Asian sentiment, this unity and identity of aspirations and ideals, that lends an extraordinary significance to the Award named after him.

May I express my gratitude once again for the honor done to me personally, and to our work in western India and to my country itself.